5 cops, 2 Bank guards killed in Kulgam attack

Kulgam/May,1: In a deadly attack, five policemen and two bank employees were killed in Pombai village of South Kashmir’s Kulgam district on Monday. Meanwhile Hizb ul Mujahideen has claimed the responsibility for the attack but denied reports of killing two bank employees. Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti and J&K Bank have condemned the attack and condoled the deaths.
Reports said that a Jammu Kashmir Bank van (JK0P-9793) was heading towards Kulgam after unloading cash at Jammu and Kashmir Bank in Nehama village, when it came under attack near Pombai village.
According to sources, a group of militants in army uniform were present on the secluded road. The bank driver took the militants as army personnel and stopped his vehicle. Sources added that as one of the policemen opened the window of the vehicle, the militants resorted to indiscriminate firing.
DIG South Kashmir, Swaivum Prakash Pani said a bank van was attacked by militants in which five policemen and two bank employees were killed. One of the slain policemen was Assistant Sub-Inspector. He said that militants also looted four rifles.
Witnesses said that shortly after the attack militants managed to flee from the spot, while it were civilians who reached first on the spot and shifted the wounded to hospital. Government forces rushed to spot later on and cordoned off the area. Doctors at District hospital Kulgam said that all the seven persons were brought dead. He identified two bank security guards as Muzaffar Ahmed Laway son of Muhammad Ayoub of Lagroo Kulgam and Javaid Ahmed Bhat son of Abdul Majid of Wesbatapora Kulgam whose bodies were handed over to the next of their kins. Police sources said that the driver of the van identified as Shabir Ahmed Bhat son of Abdul Rashid Bhat of Sadarbazar Bijbehara escaped unhurt.
The slain policemen have been identified as Ishfaq Ahmed Hajam son of Abdul Ahad of Batpora Zakoora Srinagar, Muzaffar Ahmed Bhat son of Gul Muhammad of YK Pora Qazigund, ASI Bashir Ahmed Dar son of Abdul Gani of Bonigam Qazigund, Muhammad Qasim Khan son of Bashir Ahmed of Awoora Manwan Thregam, Kupwara, Farooq Ahmed son of Abdul Aziz of Nehama Lakhadipora Kulgam. Slain Assistant Sub-Inspector Bashir Ahmed according to police source was on the verge of retirement. All the slain cops were shifted to District Police Lines Kulgam where floral tributes were paid to them. Besides, top police officiers, Inspector General of Police Syed Javaid Mujtaba Geelani was also present there.
While talking to reporters, IGP Kashmir Zone said that the militant attack left 5 policemen and two bank guards dead. “The attack was carried by Hizbul Mujhadeen outfit. The militants were three in number who were led by a local militant Umar Majid Wani,” SJM Geelani said.
Chief Minister, Mehbooba Mufti has strongly condemned the killing of five police personnel and two bank officials of a cash van who were killed Monday by unknown assailants at Pombai village of Kulgam district. In a statement, the Chief Minister said the officials were on duty to disburse and collect cash at a local bank branch and their killing reflects the dangerous criminalisation turn the society is taking.  She also expressed grief over the death of a civilian in a grenade attack Sunday in the Khanyar area of Srinagar. Mehbooba Mufti said she has been warning of the ill effects of violence time and again and appealed the civil society to rise to the occasion to make the future of our younger generation peaceful.
J&K Bank Chairman and CEO Parvez Ahmad Monday expressed grief over the killing of security personnel guarding the bank’s cash van.
He said, “We at J&K Bank are pained over the killings of these security personnel who were on way back to Kulgam after delivering cash remittance at the Bank’s Manzgam, Aharbal branch. My heartfelt condolences and deep sympathies are with the bereaved families.”
Meanwhile militant outfit Hizbul Mujhadeen has claimed the responsibility of deadly Kulgam attack in which five police men and two bank employees were reportedly killed.  A JK Bank van was attacked near Pombai village on Monday.
Burhanuddin, Operational Spokesperson Hizbul Mujhadeen told local news gathering agency CNS that the attack was carried out by a special squad of the outfit who besides inflicting casualties also snatched four service rifles from the policemen.
“Operation Field Commander Mehmood Ghaznavi had hailed the militants and decided to reward them. Such attacks will continue in Kashmir Valley,” he said.
The Hizb spokesperson claimed that militants didn’t kill the two bank employees but they were shot dead by CRPF personnel who were accompanying them. “We didn’t attack the vehicle with an intent to loot the cash. We have enough cash. We condemn the killing of two bank employees and want to clarify that they were shot dead by CRPF personnel and not by militants,” Burhanuddin said adding that militants can never target innocent Kashmiris.